How to go for a greener drive

Buying green things can produce great benefits and so can small changes in your driving behavior. 【小题1】

Avoid aggressive driving. A sudden start and aggressive driving can waste your gas. 【小题2】 That’s because just one second of high-powered driving can produce the same level of CO as 30 minutes of normal driving.

【小题3】 A lot of us like to push the speedometer up to 75 miles per hour on the highway. However, slowing down to 65 miles per hour can increase your fuel economy by up to 10 percent and reduce the amount of pollution coming from your car.

Pay attention at the gas station. Don’t overfill your gas tank or try to top the oil up because spilled gas changes into the mixture of fog and smoke and can pollute groundwater. When you finish filling the car up, be sure to tighten your gas cap. 【小题4】

Park smartly. Parking your car in the shade not only helps you avoid feeling very hot in your car, but helps minimize evaporation(蒸发) of fuel.

【小题5】 By walking, cycling or public transport, you will make a big difference to our planet. Leave your car at home just two days a week. And you will help cut greenhouse gas emissions by 1,500 pounds a year.

When we eat some popular kinds of shellfish (贝类海产), we leave behind large amounts of shells. 【小题1】 Several projects now aim to put them back into waterways.

In the U.S., shells cast aside in restaurants and other businesses are being collected, cleaned and thrown back into waterways. 【小题2】 One of the latest projects on oysters (牡蛎) takes place in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The shells were put into the state’s Mullica River and helped form new or expanded oyster groups. Free-floating baby oysters connect to the shells and grow on them. 【小题3】 It has also helped eateries (小餐馆) save money on dealing with their shells, according to Scott Stueber, a fisheries biologist with the Department of Environmental Protection. 

【小题4】 In nature, oysters are cleaners. One adult oyster can remove pollutants from about 190 liters of water a day. So oysters can improve water quality. Oyster groups also are being planted along some coastlines to strengthen shores. Besides, oyster reefs can protect shorelines. Such reefs can also be homes for sea creatures and provide food for humans.

Communities, environmental groups and governments around the world have had oyster reefs recycled and replanted in recent years. It’s happening in many states of the United States. 【小题5】 Since 2009, the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University has collected about 800,000 kilograms of shells and rebuilt about 100,000 square meters of oyster reefs.

Over the last two decades (十年), the Earth has seen an increase in vegetation (植被) and China and India are leading the increase in greening on land. The result comes mostly from tree planting programs in China and intensive agriculture (集约农业) in both countries.

Researchers from Boston University found that global green area has increased by 5% since the early 2000s, an area equal to the size of Amazon rainforest. Among the increased area, China and India contribute to about 33%, especially China, with 25% itself. China’s great contribution came mostly from its programs to protect and expand forests, which is about 42%. These programs were developed in an effort to reduce the effect of desertification (沙漠化), air pollution and climate change.

Another 32% of the greening change in China, and 82% in India, resulted from intensive agriculture of food crops. The land area used to grow crops in China and India has not changed much since the early 2000s. Yet both countries have greatly increased the total green area and food production in order to feed large populations. The lead author Chi Chen of Boston University said,“That is a surprising finding, since it is generally believed that land degradation (退化) in populous countries is usually more serious.”

Rama Neman, a research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, saw a positive message in the new findings. “Once people realize there is a problem, they tend to fix it.” However, the researchers rang bells as well. They pointed out that the gain did not necessarily (不一定，未必) fill up the loss of natural vegetation in tropical regions (热带地区) like Brazil and Indonesia.